That prayer worked when I woke up in the middle of the night with awful heartburn… only to realize “Wait a minute… this couldn’t be heartburn… I skipped dinner tonight…. oh shit! It’s a heart attack. HELP ME!!!” And I got immediate and clear instructions to slow my system down by taking some deep breaths. (This was turning out to be a terrific prayer!)

Fast Forward to this year.

I’m a new student of Kabbalah. The homework after the first class was very simple. Say one short prayer first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Ask for help. Say “Help me!”

Aha! I already know this is an effective and easy-to-remember prayer! Now I learn that this is the first lesson of learning Kabbalah! So I did the homework. Now, instead of praying “Help me” only when I was in the middle of a crisis, I was praying this prayer every morning and every night. I was making deposits into my spiritual bank account.

“Simply acknowledging our need for the Creator’s help can be a major step in the right direction. This is the whisper that we are not alone, the first step in building a relationship with the Creator, and the first crack in the shell of ego that imprisons the Light within us.” – Michael Berg

It so happened that the first week I started this “Help me!” prayer routine, my car broke down upon exiting the freeway… only ten minutes from my home. While I was waiting for the tow truck with the hood up, at least eight people stopped to offer help. This nice guy Julio even stopped to see if it was anything easy that he could fix. So helpful! The tow truck arrived in a very short time after my call, and dropped my car off at the neighborhood mechanic, only a block away from my home. When my neighbor saw me walking home with no car, she offered the use of her car the next day so I could go to work. Help was around every corner!

I said the prayer fervently again that same week, when I learned that my position was being eliminated at my company. The rumor was that I was going to be let go. I was furious. Of course I was scared… and my car needed major repairs on top of that! My head was reeling… I was very crabby… I was beating myself up… why did I spend that money? Why didn’t I take better care of this car? blah blah blah…

I knew I needed help to reverse this downward emotional spiral and so I sent out the alarm: “Help me!” Help me remove the blocks to my powerful and unlimited Self! I need help!

That’s when I felt what I can only describe as a power surge. It was a physical sensation that propelled me into a proactive mode. I decided to go into my own business and I announced it to a couple of close friends. At the same time, I sent out resumes to about six different companies, three of which responded the next day. I was on a roll and I was confident and empowered! By the end of the week, the boss had not only decided to keep me, but he was going to send me to training for a new product.

No, I’m not too big on prayer. My only prayers are “Help me,” and “Thank you.”

Imagine being at a cabin in the mountains, nestled in the valley between the desert of the Diamond Mountains and the green pines of the Plumas National Forest. Golden, rolling hills with sagebrush and wildflowers and 36 acres of peaceful, private space.

The closest neighbor is a mile away. Imagine there is an artesian spring that originates on the property, and there is an unlimited supply of cold, crystal clear spring water.

This was back in 1996… I had just been to the source of the spring, where it bubbles up from the earth amid sparkling flecks of gold pyrite and ancient dancing pebbles. I felt perfectly safe and protected as I gathered up my jugs of cold fresh water and began to follow the path alongside the brook that flowed from this source.

Lost in my peaceful reverie, I was aware only of the rustling grass beneath my feet and the gentle mountain breeze that swirled around me as I walked. The sound of the bubbling brook beside me was like a soft song.

I was startled suddenly by the sharp, loud sound of dogs barking and I could tell they were close. (A little background… At that time, I had an acute fear of large dogs! One of my worst fears!)

I stopped in my tracks and there they were right in front of me… Two very large dogs–dobermans, I think–and they were showing their teeth, barking aggressively, about ten feet away.

At first I kind of panicked. “I’m going to be mauled by dogs in this isolated place and no one will find me for dayyyyys!!” Thankfully, I recovered quickly and changed my thoughts to “No way!”

I called on my acting training and I got in to the character of Zena, Amazon warrior woman. I planted my feet firmly on the ground and sensed a connection with the solid earth. I sent out a psychic alarm for help (a prayer?). I breathed in all the courage I could muster and in my mind I made myself huge. “Go AWAY!!!!” I bellowed in a voice unfamiliar to me.

The dogs immediately turned around and ran away. “Wow,” I thought to myself. “I scared the dogs away!” I shrank back down to my normal size and my normal voice. “Cool.”

The dogs in this story remind me of the internal demons that can surface at any time without warning, uninvited. When I am over-tired, or feeling uncentered, or just plain not paying attention, I am more likely to let down my guard against the “barking dogs” of self-doubt or unworthiness.

But I am the queen of my world and I claim sovereignty over my dominion, which certainly includes my own mind. I can choose my thoughts. Our thoughts create our world.

So now, when I am invaded by uninvited “dogs,”–obsessive thoughts or worries or regrets–in my consciousness, I simply insist that they go away. Just like I did to the dogs on the path beside the brook.

I am the gatekeeper of my own mind and you are not welcome here. SCRAM!